Florists have, for years, dealt with the notion that the very material that helps bring their creative ideas and visions to fruition has been at odds with the sustainability values that many of them hold. Traditional synthetic floral foam, while undeniably effective, has carried environmental baggage that, for many, soon became increasingly difficult to ignore.
But what if there was a way to maintain the performance that florists relyon while addressing the sustainability aspect of floristry? What if there were a product that addressed all the worries that these floral designers faced? Well, these are precisely some of the questions Smithers-Oasis sought to answer with their bio-based Oasis® Renewal™ floral foam.
When Performance Meets Purpose and the Beauty of Smart Design
Made with plant-based, renewable materials, Oasis® Renewal™ floral foam is a reinvention. It has all the qualities of a sustainable floral foam, plus more, meaning it practically outperforms traditional floral foam you might be accustomed to, including incredible water absorption and retention, and an excellent flower life of more than seven days.
But creating such a plant-based alternative to synthetic floral foam was not just about swapping out ingredients. Smithers-Oasis' global research team spent years working on this project. Florists have decades of muscle memory built around how traditional foam behaves; any replacement had to exactly match that performance, or it simply wouldn't work in real professional floral design settings.
Robin Kilbride, President and CEO of Smithers-Oasis, had this in mind, too. At the launch of the Oasis® Renewal™ Floral Foam, she noted that simply being a plant-based product wasn’t enough for the product. It needed to deliver the look, feel, and performance that florists trust. Yet, they achieved just that. Oasis® Renewal™ floral foam does not require floral designers to compromise their craft for the sake of sustainability. This floral foam offers both equally.
Oasis® Renewal™ is particularly innovative in the way it does more than just address environmental concerns. The floral foam is free of dyes and colorants, appearing grey-green when dry but transforming into a deep, rich black when saturated. This is a functional advantage.
As Robin explained:
“Smithers-Oasis has long been a proponent of black floral foam, as it allows florists to achieve the same appearance of design coverage with 25% fewer stems, reducing their cost. That also results in less labor and costs for designing and a lighter weight of finished designs, which are then easier to transport.”
For florists, this means reduced costs and less labor time as well. In other words, being more sustainable also means being more economical and efficient, which is the kind of win-win situation that makes this floral foam’s adoption easier and smarter for everyone involved.
The product’s density also strikes that sweet spot where it is firm enough to grip stems securely while remaining easy to work with. Anyone who has tried to wrestle a woody stem into foam that is too firm, or watched a delicate flower droop in foam that is too soft, will definitely appreciate this balance.
A Versatility That Simplifies Design Operations
Perhaps one of the most practical qualities is the foam’s versatility; "One Foam Fits All," as Smithers-Oasis aptly puts it. Do you work with delicate roses, hollow-stemmed tulips, woody branches, or thick tropical varieties? This single product handles them all in the same way.
Florists and designers no longer need to stock different types of foam for different applications, as this one product works for everything and has a fantastic grip that keeps those stems in place. This simplifies inventory management and reduces storage needs.
That kind of versatility is hardly just convenient, but definitive of how florists approach their work. No more guessing which foam density to reach for, no more switching mid-project because the stems are not cooperating; just consistent, reliable performance across all applications.
Oasis® Renewal™ Floral Foam Has Earned Key Certification Credentials
The Oasis® Renewal™ floral foam earned the OK bio-based certification from TÜV Austria’s independent verification, with a 4-star rating, the highest for this type of certification. The renewable biomass materials used in its production exemplify the shift away from petroleum dependency.
When the final carbon footprint analysis came back for the certification, the results were impressive. The analysis showed that Oasis® Renewal™ floral foam generates 56% lower carbon emissions than its predecessor, and contains significant renewable biomass materials and meets strict environmental standards. This was a substantial environmental win, speaking to its ecological potential.
In practice, this means every arrangement, centerpiece, or wedding installation created with this foam carries much less than the carbon impact of traditional alternatives. For an industry that moves millions of floral designs and creates hundreds of thousands of installations annually, such reductions scale up to significant figures.
Impacts in Real-World Floristry
For individual florists, Oasis® Renewal™ offers a sustainable way to reduce their environmental impact without forfeiting the quality that their clients expect. For large-scale operations, including event and corporate installations, the cumulative effect is even more obvious. Consider a wedding designer doing tens of events a year, switching to Oasis® Renewal™ means they cut their foam-related carbon footprint by more than half.
When this is achieved across thousands of florists, one can see how such individual decisions incentivize greater impact across the industry. Adding in the cost savings from using fewer stems and the efficiency gains from working with such a versatile product, the business case makes sense, just like the environmental aspect does.
In essence, for florists who have always felt caught between their floral artistry and their conscience, this development offers the way forward in an industry that has been searching for better solutions. Oasis® Renewal™ shows that those solutions are possible.
Of course, conversations on sustainability in floristry will certainly continue to evolve, as they should. New challenges will come, and further innovations will be needed. But with Oasis® Renewal™ floral foam, the industry has a solution that works in the present while pointing to even more sustainable possibilities in the future as it continues to develop.
Unless otherwise indicated, photos are by Smithers-Oasis
